Microsoft has discontinued Plus!

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/plus/default.mspx

Microsoft has discontinued Plus! SuperPack for Windows XP and Plus! Digital Media Edition. Many of the features and tools that have been enjoyed for years now can be found in new Microsoft titles and services including Windows Vista™. For more information Click this Link
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/features/experiences/memories/default.mspx

The Microsoft Plus titles will be available in retail outlets while supplies last.

Customers will receive product support for up to three years from purchase date or through April 30, 2010, whichever date is reached first.

Oracle to Buy BEA for $8.5 Billion

(AP) SAN FRANCISCO - Notching another conquest in its push to create a one-stop shop for business software, Oracle Corp. is snapping up rival BEA Systems Inc. for $8.5 billion in a deal culminated after several months of acrimony.

The acquisition announced Wednesday extends a three-year spree in which Oracle has spent about $35 billion buying dozens of its smaller competitors.

San Jose-based BEA represents Oracle’s most expensive purchase since it paid $11.1 billion for PeopleSoft Inc. in early 2005. Part of Oracle’s expense will be offset by $1.3 billion in cash that it expects to inherit from BEA after the marriage is consummated later this year.

The all-cash price of $19.375 per share represents a 24 percent premium from BEA’s closing stock price Tuesday. It’s 42 percent improvement from where BEA’s shares stood before Oracle launched an unsolicited bid of $17 per share that was rebuffed almost three months ago.

Oracle’s dogged pursuit of BEA underscores how much it prizes BEA’s so-called "middleware" _ computer coding that helps business programs run more smoothly on underlying databases.

Already entrenched as the leader in the database market, Redwood Shores-based Oracle in recent years has been building up an array of business applications software to challenge the front-runner in that segment, Germany-based SAP.

BEA’s products, already used by about 15,000 customers, will give Oracle another potential selling point with companies looking for a suite of software from a single vendor in an effort to make their technology run more smoothly. Adding BEA also will help Oracle become a more formidable challenger to IBM Corp. in the middleware market.

"This combination with BEA gives us what we need _ a leadership position in every level of the software stack," Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison said in a conference call Wednesday.

Ellison had stalking BEA for years before finally pouncing in October, shortly after billionaire investor Carl Icahn acquired a large stake in BEA and began calling on its board to take steps to boost the company’s sagging stock.

But BEA spurned Ellison’s original offer of $6.7 billion and set its sale price at $21 per share _ a demand that Oracle ridiculed as unrealistic. BEA’s initial refusal to negotiate with Oracle infuriated Icahn, who threatened to lead a shareholder mutiny.

The impasse began a cat-and-mouse game, with Ellison publicly declaring Oracle was unlikely to raise its offer while BEA indicated it would either fetch a higher price from another suitor or attempt to boost its stock by accelerating its revenue growth.

The gamesmanship didn’t fool most analysts, who predicted all along that BEA would land in Oracle’s trophy case.

"It was only a matter of time," said Forrester Research analyst Mike Gilpin. "This looks like a good deal all around."

Oracle’s takeover, which is expected to be completed by October, might not bode well for many of BEA’s roughly 4,100 employees.

The combination will likely create an opportunity for Oracle to boost its profits by eliminating overlapping jobs in administrative, sales and marketing departments. Analysts think Oracle will try retain most of the engineers who develop and maintain BEA’s product line.

Without providing specifics, Ellison said Oracle will keep a significant number of BEA’s sales representatives. He didn’t mention other departments.

Oracle currently employs about 75,000 workers worldwide.

Selling to Oracle probably was a bitter pill for BEA Chairman Alfred Chuang, who co-founded the company in 1994 and whose first name represented one of the initials in the corporate name (the others are drawn from co-founders Bill Coleman and Ed Scott).

Chuang’s apparent disdain for Oracle probably "was a factor that played a role in delaying the sale," said AMR Research analyst Dennis Gaughan. "The original bid almost seemed like a personal affront to him."

Chuang, who is also BEA’s CEO, said the deal was in the best interest of the company’s shareholders.

The outcome pleased Icahn, who has accumulated a 13 percent stake in BEA. "This transaction is an excellent example of the great results that can be achieved for all constituencies when the shareholder activist is able to work cooperatively with management," he said.

BEA’s shares surged $2.88, or 18.5 percent, to finish at $18.46 Wednesday while Oracle shares added 61 cents to close at $21.92.

Oracle’s stock price has risen by 60 percent since 2004 as Ellison and his top lieutenants have overcome widespread skepticism about the company’s ability to keep customers happy while blending together all the disparate products that have been added from its vanquished rivals.

Delivering on Ellison’s promise, Oracle has become increasingly profitable _ a streak that has elevated Oracle’s market value by about $40 billion during the past three years.

"We have demonstrated over the many acquisitions that we have made in the past three years how expanding like this benefits both our customers and our shareholders," Ellison boasted Wednesday.

Gaughan, though, wonders whether Oracle eventually may push its luck too far. "Is there going to be a point where they have too many balls in the air at once?" he said.

Pacific Crest Securities analyst Brendan Barnicle doubts Oracle will bite off another big deal for the remainder of 2008 at least.

Other analysts disagreed, predicting Oracle might next try to buy software makers Informatica Corp., Tibco Software Inc. or i2 Technologies Inc.

Besides gaining access to BEA’s technology to promote future sales, Oracle is picking up about $850 million in annual revenue that BEA customers pay to maintain software installed in previous years.

Oracle expects the BEA acquisition to boost its annual earnings by one to two cents per share, excluding special items, during the first full year after the takeover is completed.

Through the first nine months of its current fiscal year, BEA had earned $132.5 million on revenue of $1.1 billion.

MySQL owned by Sun

This is a marvelous achievement

Sun Microsystems elbowed into the enterprise database market Wednesday with the announcement of a proposed $1 billion acquisition of MySQL, an open-source database software company. The deal, which Sun Chief Executive Jonathan Schwartz calls the "most important acquisition in the company's history," makes Sun one of the first major public companies to offer open-source software and puts the company head to head with the three big vendors in the $15 billion database market: IBM, SAP, and its former database partner, Oracle.

Compared to those three goliaths, which provide database software to 86% of the enterprise software market, according to Forrester Research, MySQL offers a simpler and cheaper solution. That makes MySQL an appealing option for small- and medium-sized businesses, says Forrester analyst Noel Yuhanna. "Unlike IBM, Oracle and SAP, MySQL has never had 50,000 features, but it does have maybe 10,000 relevant features that are relevant to enterprises," he says. "That cost savings is one of the key reasons that users have looked at open source, and fewer features means it's easier to use and manage."

MySQL's lighter-weight database system may also fit into Sun's ambitions of becoming a major player in "utility computing," a model of information technology infrastructure that pipes in software applications, processing and storage over the Internet rather than from a company's own data centers. "All other databases on the market today were designed for an offline, back-office use," says MySQL Chief Executive Marten Mickos. "Our relevance grows as enterprises shift to Web-based architecture, and that's what's happening right now."

One billion dollars, split between $800 million in cash and $200 million in stock options, may seem a hefty price tag for MySQL, which gives its software away to 99% of its customers. But the 1% of MySQL users who do pay for support include big names like Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ), Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ), Nokia (nyse: NOK - news - people ), and Alcatel-Lucent (nyse: ALU - news - people ). As Sun's (nasdaq: JAVA - news - people ) size lends legitimacy and the guarantee of long-term service to MySQL, the acquisition will likely convince more and larger enterprises to sign on to MySQL's cut-rate database systems, Yuhanna says.

"This makes Sun a major open-source vendor, and it will have a major pricing impact on the traditional vendors," says Donald Feinberg, an analyst with Gartner.

The purchase of MySQL, which has built one of the best brand names among privately held open source companies, is yet more evidence of how tough it is for open source companies to go to the public markets. Red Hat (nasdaq: RHT - news - people ), which has a market capitalization of about $3.7 billion, remains the primary example of a publicly traded open source company: Last year, it bought open source middleware provider, JBoss, for $350 million. Novell (nasdaq: NOVL - news - people ) snapped up SUSE Linux in 2004 for $210 million.

On Sun's part, the acquisition gives the server and software company a database offering that is capable of storing and manipulating the information used by its software tools, a role it has largely handed to Oracle. That means Sun is attempting to tap into some of the revenue that it formerly directed to Oracle, and may strain the company's relationship with its former partner.

For Oracle, the deal shouldn't come as much of a surprise. Sun first hinted at the possibility of entering the database market in 2005 when co-founder Scott McNealy cryptically showed analysts a list of database players including the words "SunDB." Since then, Sun has made minor investments in another open-source solution, PostgreSQL, hiring developers to work on that non-commercial database product and offering its own support to users.

The MySQL deal, which is slated to close in the first half of 2008, is a sign that Sun is pushing into more open-source software applications and could even enter the Linux market, the terrain of companies like Red Hat. "Sun is doing more and more with being a provider of open source in this enterprise infrastructure space," says Raven Zachary, an open-source analyst at 451 Group. "I'd start to look at them as a bigger player in software, especially open-source software, through this and other acquisitions."

Intel promises WiMAX-enabled laptops by 2008

We’ve been hearing about WiMAX and its "true mobile connectivity" promise for years, but the mobile standard has yet to take off as a viable option for the public at large. That’s about to change, says Intel, as it plans to fit WiMAX chips into laptops by mid-2008, in the same way it has done with Wi-Fi chips.

Opening Intel's annual developer forum in San Francisco yesterday, chief executive Paul Otellini said that by the middle of next year Intel will release its updated Centrino laptop chipset, dubbed “Montevina”, which will accommodate both Wi-Fi networking and WiMAX. With Sprint and Clearwire rolling out its US nationwide WiMAX network next year, the wireless technology could finally be ready to go mainstream.

PC makers Acer, Lenovo, Panasonic and Toshiba have all signed up to ship laptops with Intel’s embedded WiMAX/Wi-Fi module, though computer giants Dell and HP are noticeably absent from the line-up. Besides the promise that consumers will see WiMAX-enabled notebooks in 2008, Intel has further cemented its commitment to the mobile realm by announcing they are going to be working to establish their own Intel-based handsets as well

ROZEE.PK Job Fair 2008 Karachi

ROZEE.PK Job Fair 2008

March 2nd, 9th & 30th at Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi

ROZEE.PK, the #1 job website in Pakistan, is pleased to invite you to participate in its Fourth Nationwide Job Fairs 2008 in partnership with the Jang Group.
For three years in a row, ROZEE.PK’s annual job fairs have helped companies hire quality candidates in a competitive job market. The ROZEE.PK Job Fair 2008 in Partnership with the Jang Group will be held in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi this year on the 2nd, 9th and 30th of March accordingly.
There are several exciting ways for your HR to participate. Our sponsorship packages, booths and advertising options have been priced to suit a wide array of budgets and are designed to maximize exposure for your company. The success of our previous job fairs has led to a substantial increase in demand this year from Pakistan’s best employers. As you may be aware, our last job fair set historical records with over 100,000 professionals attending the nation wide events. Over 5,500 job offers were made by more than 250 employers that participated. ROZEE.PK’s expertise and partnership with the Jang Group, Pakistan’s largest media power house with a reach of over 20 Million consumers each day, ensures an even better event this year.
Please feel free to contact me to confirm your participation as soon as possible to guarantee availability of booths. Our Team will also be contacting you shortly to schedule meetings to discuss the various opportunities this event can offer.

Semantic Web takes big step forward

World Wide Web Consortium's SPARQL query technology published; Semantic Web could impact Google, Internet ad models, analyst says:

The Semantic Web, a concept tossed around for years as a Web extension to make it easier to find and group information, is getting a critical boost Tuesday from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

W3C will announce publication of SPARQL (pronounced "sparkle") query technology, a Semantic Web component enabling people to focus on what they want to know rather than on the database technology or data format used to store data, W3C said.

The potential of the Semantic Web cannot be underestimated. By scanning the Web on behalf of users, even Google's ad-based business model could be impacted, an analyst said.

SPARQL queries express high-levels goals and are easier to extend to unanticipated data sources. The technology overcomes limitations of local searches and single formats, according to W3C.

"[SPARQL is] the query language and protocol for the Semantic Web," said Lee Feigenbaum, chair of the RDF (Resource Description Framework) Data Access Working Group at W3C, which is responsible for SPARQL.

Already available in 14 known implementations, SPARQL is designed to be used at the scale of the Web to allow queries over distributed data sources independent of format. It also can be used for mashing up Web 2.0 data.

The Semantic Web, the W3C said, is intended to enable sharing, merging, and reusing of data globally. "The basic idea of the Semantic Web is take the idea of the Web, which is effectively a linked set of documents around the world, and apply it to data," Feigenbaum said.

"One way to think about the Semantic Web is the Web as one big database," said Ian Jacobs, W3C representative. A database, he said, enables querying and manipulation of data. More database-like Web sites are emerging, he said.

Comparing the Semantic Web to search sites such as Google, Jacobs said Google allows for searching through document text, essentially. The Semantic Web, meanwhile, allows for automation and combining of data, he said.

While the Semantic Web concept has been talked about for several years, Feigenbaum believes momentum is building. He cited DBpedia, which extracts structured information form Wikipedia, as an example of a Web site based on the Semantic Web.

With the Semantic Web's ability to hone in on just the information a user needs, companies based on a Web search advertising model such as Google may have to reconsider their plans, said analyst Jonas Lamis, executive director of SciVestor.

"They may need to rethink their business model because if I have an agent that acts on my behalf and finds things that are interesting for me, it's not necessarily going to be reading Google ads to do that," Lamis said.

The goal of the Semantic Web is to serve as a giant set of databases that can be integrated, Jacobs said. The Semantic Web has seen a lot of uptake in the health care and life sciences, he said. The drug discovery and pharmaceutical fields can use it to take clinical results and learn from data, according to Jacobs.

At pharmaceuticals company Eli Lilly, Semantic Web technology is being used for research.

"We're using it for our targeted assessment tools, which helps us to find out as much information or find out lots of information about drug targets of interest," said Susie Stephens, principal research scientist at Eli Lilly and chair of the W3C Semantic Web Education and Outreach Working Group. A drug target is a protein in the body that is to be modified with a particular drug.

"We use Semantic Web technologies to help us link to lots of information about the drug targets," she said.

The SPARQL specification works with other W3C Semantic Web technologies. These include: RDF, for representing data; RDF Schema; Web Ontology Language (OWL) for building vocabularies; and Gleaning Resource Descriptions from Dialects of Languages (GRDDL) for automatic extraction of Semantic Web data from documents.

SPARQL also can use other W3C standards such as WSDL.

The W3C RDF Data Access Working Group has produced three SPARQL recommendations being issued Tuesday: the SPARQL Query Language for RDF; SPARQL Protocol for RDF; and SPARQL Query Results for XML Format.

Participants in the working group include persons from companies such as Agfa-Gevaert, HP, IBM, Matsushita, and Oracle. W3C released statements of support from numerous parties, including HP and Oracle.

"SPARQL is a key element for integrated information access across information silos and across business boundaries. HP customers can benefit from better information utilization by employing semantic Web technologies," said Jean-Luc Chatelain, CTO of HP Software Information management, in the company's statement.

"HP's Jena Semantic Web framework has a complete implementation of query language, protocol, and result set processing," Chatelain said.

"As an active participant in this working group, Oracle believes the standardization of SPARQL will play an instrumental role in achieving the vision of the Semantic Web," said Don Deutsch, Oracle vice president of Standards Strategy and Oracle, in Oracle's statement.

Download Firefox 3.2 Beta

Firefox Continously Beating Microsoft in field in internet Browsing
Now Firefox 3 Beta 2 is available in more than 25 languages across the world.
Download :
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html


Download in English US Language
For Windows
http://download.mozilla.org/?product=firefox-3.0b2&os=win&lang=en-US

For Mac OS X
http://download.mozilla.org/?product=firefox-3.0b2&os=osx&lang=en-US

For Linux
http://download.mozilla.org/?product=firefox-3.0b2&os=linux&lang=en-US

Try the Free OpenOffice.org Suite Via Web Browser

Willing to trying out the free OpenOffice.org 2.0 office suite without having to install it on your computer?

That choice became possible this week when OpenOffice.org and online application vendor Ulteo launched a beta project that hosts OpenOffice.org 2.0 on Ulteo's Online Desktop infrastructure, giving users online access to the applications and up to 1GB of related data storage.

In an announcement, the two groups said the project will be open to 15,000 beta users who will be able to access the applications using a Web browser on Windows, Linux or Mac OS X.

Beta users will also have access to the project's instant collaboration features, which will allow participants to invite other users to join them online in working on a document together in real time. Users can send invitations to others via e-mail, allowing access to documents in either read-only or full edit mode through a clickable link in the message.

"Now everyone can use OpenOffice.org from any connected PC, anytime, anywhere," Florian Effenberger, marketing project co-lead of OpenOffice.org, said in a statement. "You even can work together on documents online and collaborate with others. This especially is an interesting option for trainers and workgroups."

"Ulteo is very proud to deliver OpenOffice.org to the community in a new, useful and exciting way: online and designed for collaboration," Thierry Koehrlen, CEO of Ulteo, said in a statement. "We expect that it will ... spread OpenOffice.org to even more users now that it is simpler than ever to try and use it in a couple of clicks."

Users can register for the beta program at Ulteo's Web site.

Biggest Television [Panasonic Plasma 150 "]

It's the elephant in the living room: Panasonic's 150-inch plasma has all but stolen the show here at CES 2008. When people ask you "What's the coolest thing you've seen at the show so far?" they invariably follow that up with "Except for the 150-inch TV."
And sure enough, the thing is a marvel to behold. It's so big, it's hard to take it in, really. With a viewing area that measures 11 feet by 6 1/4 feet and 8.84 million pixels of resolution, the TV (which has no model number and no date for being commercialized) is regularly thronged by crowds of slack-jawed onlookers, unable to comprehend the thing.
It's so big that all the other flat-panel companies have simply removed signage that might indicate how big (er, small) their sets are in comparison. There are obviously some big sets here from Pioneer, LG, and Sharp, but exactly how big their biggest sets are remains a mystery. Next year I will have to bring a tape measure.
Still don't think it's big? After all, maybe that woman is incredibly short, right? Wrong. Here's a picture of it next to last-year's largest, the 103-inch plasma
With the war on screen size all but lost for 2008, a more interesting one is shaping up on thickness, with vendors battling to see just how thin they can make their displays. Virtually every vendor is offering a screen (LCD or plasma) less than 2 inches thick. LG's is 1.7 inches thick. Hitachi's plasma is 1.5 inches and its LCD is just 0.75 inch. Sharp also has a 0.8-inch-thick LCD (52 inches diagonally, too). But it's Pioneer's 0.35-inch plasma that takes the weight loss crown, even if it is a prototype.
Other TV trends continue apace: A big one is OLED, which both Sony and Samsung are moving forward impressively. Side by side, Samsung's technology demo of OLED vs. LCD is striking; the difference in color and brightness is astonishing. Meanwhile, Sony was demonstrating a 27-inch OLED set, too. (In related news, you'll finally be able to buy the 11-inch OLED here in the United States, for just $2,500.)
Also emerging: Wireless HD. While I'm not sold on the need for this technology, more and more products keep showing up with it. Will we replace HDMI cables with wireless connections? Your sense of tidiness is probably salivating over the prospect already

Latest Desktop PC 2008

5 Steps to Increase your Google Page Rank.

Google Page rank is based on back links. Back links are Links pointing to your website from another website. The more back links you have the higher your PR will be.
1. Join forums, forums are a great way to achieve links to your website. In most forums you are allowed to have a signature and in your signature you can put a link to your website. But another important note to look on is making sure the forum is somewhat related to your website. You will still get credit if it's not, but if it's related to your website than you will be accomplishing two tasks at once.
You will be advertising for your website (bringing in targeted traffic) You will also be building your websites presence.
Your websites presence is very important to your survival. The more people see, or hear about your website the more credibility you will have and this increases your chances of having these visitors come back and possibly become leads.
2. Submit to search engine directories. Search engine directories are a good way to get a free link to your website. They also increase your chances at being listed higher on popular search engines like Google, and overture.
Most search engine directories allow you to submit to their website for free. This will allow you to increase your web presence by being listed on another search engine, and it will also be a free link.
Remember the more links you have the higher your PR will be
3. Using ezine ads (or newsletters). Creating an ezine will probably be the most beneficial step you can take to increasing your web presence. When you create an ezine you will be able to keep visitors coming back to your website for more by using signatures and giving special deals.
Ezine's will also allow you to increase your back links. By creating an ezine you can submit your information about your ezine to an ezine directory. This directory will than link to your website(thus giving you a free link).
4. Creating and publishing articles. Articles are an easy source of generating new traffic. You can include your signature in your article. This will bring in more traffic from article submission directories.
Your signature usually consists of 4 to 8 lines. Usually the first line would be the title of the website that you are trying to advertise. The last line would be the link to the website and the lines in between these would be a sales pitch to draw your viewers into your website.
5. Links from related websites. Gaining links from related websites can be one of the most frustrating tasks you can attempt.
They are very easy to find, but can be somewhat difficult to obtain links from.
To find related websites, all you have to do is go to a search engine... say Google... and type in your subject. Maybe your website is based on ford mustangs.
You go to Google and type in ford mustangs, than you look around for pages that are somewhat related to your website. After you have done this (which should be very easy) you have to contact them in some way to get your link posted on their website. This can be the most difficult task because a lot of webmasters ignore e-mail's from people requesting links because they don't see the importance of it at the time. Some other reasons could be that they are rarely online, or they delete spam mail and sometimes delete their important emails in the process.
Important note: When looking for link partners don't just link with websites that have a page rank of 4 or higher. Link with anyone and everyone you get a chance to. If you link to someone that has a page rank of zero, this will not hurt your page rank. It will only increase it because you are getting a link back to your website. Google doesn't look at your back links page ranks to determine what yours is going to be. It simply looks at how many back links you have.
So if Google one day decided to link to a website that was just created and this website has a page rank of 0 and has a domain that goes something like this: mywebsite.geocities.com it's page rank wouldn't increase even though Google's page rank is 10, it's rank would still be zero because it would only have that one back link.
Charles Nixon - Website Designer Driven by CreativityBuilding websites to increase sales, and build web presenceDid you start your business to create a website? or to runyour business? With competitive pricing and your projectdelivered on time and on budget CharlesNixon.com may be theweb design firm for you!

New Device Development Features in Visual Studio 2008

Roughly two years ago, when I was writing an article on "New Features for Device Developers in Visual Studio 2005" that was published in the August 2005 issues of this magazine, our program management team was already busy shaping the next release of the product, which is soon to be released as Visual Studio 2008. We spent a lot of time talking to our major customers and reviewing the feedback we got on blogs and questions on forums on newsgroups to identify what enhancements/features would be most useful to our device developers. One thing that surfaced was that device developers needed more help when it came to testing their applications efficiently. Whether that meant testing on multiple devices or under varying conditions or simply being able to write unit tests, they clearly needed help getting applications to market faster by reducing the testing time.
Here I'll walk you though some of the new features for device developers in Visual Studio 2008, focusing on how these features will make device developers more productive by enabling scenarios that aid in testing applications and help you ship a high-quality product fasterLet's start with the one of the most significant enhancements that we added to Visual Studio 2008 - the ability to write unit tests for your VB and C# device applications. While keeping device developers' unique needs in mind, we also kept parity with how this feature works on the desktop and Web so you can simply translate what you learned around writing unit testing for devices. Of course there are subtle differences that we had to allow for but you'll clearly see familiar dialogs and experiences when creating and running unit testing for devices such as integrating test results with back-end systems like Team Foundation Server.
To demonstrate writing a simple unit test for a device class library that you created, here's what you'd have to do (See Figure 1). Let's say you have a class library written in C# that has a method that returns the bigger of the two numbers passed to it. You want to write a unit test for it and make sure you don't goof up on the logic. So once you're in that project, right-click anywhere in the editor and select "Create a new Unit Test."
If you noticed that there's a flaw in the code trust me that's intentional. I'll be using that to highlight how your unit test will help you catch these kinds of mistakes. So please ignore that for the moment and assume that this code works as you expected.
Now, once you've clicked on create unit test, the next dialog lets you pick the methods for which you want to create unit tests (See Figure 2.)
For now we'll stick with the default and click OK and provide a project Name. This will create and add a Test Project to our solution and in the process Generate the Test Methods, add references as needed, ensure that Test Configuration Files are created and then you're ready to write your unit tests and execute them.
You'll find in your test project a Method called FindBigTest() that has a stub for the unit test for our simple method and looks like this:
TestMethod()]public void FindBigTest(){ Class1 target = new Class1(); // TODO: Initialize to an appropriate value int Number1 = 0; // TODO: Initialize to an appropriate value int Number2 = 0; // TODO: Initialize to an appropriate value int expected = 0; // TODO: Initialize to an appropriate value int actual; actual = target.FindBig(Number1, Number2); Assert.AreEqual(expected, actual); Assert.Inconclusive("Verify the correctness of this test method.");}
Let's modify this code to add the appropriate values for Number1, Number2, and the expected Values. For example, if Number1 is 5 and Number2 is 4 then the return value should be 5. We'll also remove the Assert.Inconclusive line and once our edits are done, right-click and select "Run Tests" from the menu. If prompted you can then select either a real device or an emulator to run your unit test on.
One tip: Make sure you have .NET Compact Framework 2.0 (or higher) on the device or emulator on which unit tests are going to execute because the unit test project won't deploy .NET Compact Framework and expects it to be there already. One easy way to do this is by deploying a simple VB or C# project to the device before you run your unit tests.
[TestMethod()] //After the changes are madepublic void FindBigTest(){ Class1 target = new Class1(); int Number1 = 5; int Number2 = 4; int expected = 5; int actual; actual = target.FindBig(Number1, Number2); Assert.AreEqual(expected, actual);}
Once you select Run tests, you'll notice that the emulator shows up (if running on the emulator) and Visual Studio starts to deploy the Unit Test Harness, your class library, and the test code to it. You'll also see that the Test Results Window shows up with the executing test reflecting the state of Pending. Give it a few seconds to execute and you should see something similar to Figure 3.
That clearly worked when Number1 was greater than Number2. Now let's test the other condition as well and make sure that if Number2 in bigger then our code works also as expected and returns that. So in our test we can swap Number1=4 and Number2=5 and execute the test again. Now it gets interesting. Your test just failed (see Figure 4).
No, don't panic. Remember the flaw in the code before? We were returning Number1 in both cases. While we did it intentionally to highlight how unit testing work, these are the kinds of scenarios that having unit tests can save you hours of debugging. So to ensure that this example works, simply fix the code in the class to return Number2 where applicable, rerun your unit test, and it will certainly come back as PassedContinuing with our effort to help you test your code more efficiently, the second trickiest area developers had to deal with was executing code on devices with different security configurations. Every device developer at some point will realize that the certificates and security policies on the device control code execution. While we can't simplify those policies and processes, we can certainly provide tools that make it easier to understand and deal with these challenges. One way to deal with them is to have lots of devices in your test labs with different security configurations and test your applications on each of them. A simpler and cheaper way is to take advantage of the new Device Security Manager in Visual Studio 2008 that can change the security configuration for your target device at a click of a button so that you can quickly test your applications on different security settings and configurations (see Figure 5).
This tool can be launched from the Tools Menu followed by clicking Device Security Manager. In Figure 6 you can see that this tool is currently connected to a Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone Emulator and displaying the security configuration it currently has.
Emulator images usually ship with an unlocked security configuration that makes it easy to deploy and test applications; real devices will very likely be one of the other configurations listed on the screen. To see the effect of how your application will behave in a different configuration all you have to do is select the configuration of interest and deploy to the device.
In a matter of a few seconds that emulator image will be provisioned to work like a two-tier device and when you run your application you'll experience exactly what your customers do using a similarly configured device, all without you having to build an inventory of real devices.
Automation in the Device Emulator ManagerThe Device Emulator Manager first shipped with Visual Studio 2005. It made it easy to see all the emulator images on your machine and provided the ability to quickly launch and cradle emulator images. Clearly that was useful, but manual in nature. Every time you had to launch or cradle or shut down and image, you had to manually do these tasks using the Device Emulator Manager. In Visual Studio 2008 the Device Emulator Manager can be fully automated, which means you can write simple scripts or code that you can run in conjunction with your unit tests to connect and disconnect one emulator after another.
Another enhancement in the Device Emulator Manager also makes it simple to clone emulator images. Once you have an emulator running, right-click on that node and select "Save As" shown in Figure 7.
This will prompt you to save the configuration of the emulator in a simple XML file in the "My Device Emulators" folder. It will also show this new emulator in the Device Emulator Manager. You can then edit this file to change the characteristics of the emulator and quickly build a list of emulators with various configurations.
Device Emulator EnhancementsThe version of Device Emulator that ships with Visual Studio 2008 is version 3.0. Version 2.0 of the emulator shipped with the Window Mobile 6 SDKs and was also made available for download standalone from Microsoft Downloads. The performance gains should certainly be the most visible benefit to all developers moving from Version 1.0. But apart from working on performance Device Emulator also added capabilities to emulator hardware and peripherals such as battery, speakerphone, headset, and car kit.
Of all these features, Battery Emulation has been my favorite. I recollect talking to many developers who had to wait for hours for device batteries to drain enough to test how their code worked in low-battery conditions. For example, when the battery in the device went down, say, 20%, they wanted to start saving some critical data gracefully. The only way to test this before was with a real device - waiting patiently for that moment of joy when the battery level hit the desired level. The Device Emulator makes it a charm to test these scenarios. Coupled with the new state and notification APIs in Windows Mobile, you can use the Device Emulator to send a low-battery signal to the Emulator Image, which will then send a notification to your application to handle that event. And in a matter of seconds you'll be able to test the behavior of your application under different battery conditions (see Figure 8).
And to make things even easier in Version 3.0 you don't have to launch the properties page manually to change the battery state. You can now automate that part too. Just like the Device Emulator Manager, the Device Emulator supports automation and using a script or code you can alter the battery state while your application and emulator are running.
A Broad Choice of Supported PlatformsVisual Studio 2008 provides the most comprehensive choice of Windows Mobile and CE platforms for developers to target and continue to support both managed (VB, C#) and native (C++) development. Along with the Pocket PC 2003 and Smartphone 2003 SDKs that we shipped in Visual Studio 2005, we now also include the Windows Mobile 5.0 SDKs in the box. To develop for Window Mobile 6, you just have to download the most recent SDK from the Web and it will plug into Visual Studio 2008. In Visual Studio 2008, Smartphone 2003 is for a native project only since .NET Compact Framework 1.0 projects aren't supported and Smartphone 2003 only supports a .NET CF 1.0 runtime. If however you have any projects that you want to open, Visual Studio 2008 will migrate them to work on Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone using the .NET CF 2.0 runtime.
Visual Studio 2008 also introduces a more usable version of the new project dialog designed to make it easier to navigate multiple SDKs, runtimes, and application types as well as a link to help discover new SDKs and emulator images.
As you can see in Figure 9, we allow the ability to select a platform, select a version of .NET Compact Framework (2.0 or 3.5), and the application type all from one single screen.
And the best part of Visual Studio 2008 is that it will work perfectly well with Visual Studio 2005 side-by-side on the same machine to help make a smooth transition from 2005 to 2008.
ConclusionI hope that with this article I was able to highlight how Visual Studio 2008 will greatly impact your ability to ship robust device applications faster to your customer and demonstrate a potential way to save the cost of procuring expensive devices by using the emulator and other features instead.
Our team will be glad to hear your feedback and thoughts on how we can continue to help provide you with the best development experience for smart device development. You can reach us using our team blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/vsdteam/, provide feedback using device forums at http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/default.aspx?ForumGroupID=11&SiteID=1, or by using the Connect Feedback System at http://connect.microsoft.com/default.aspx.

C# 3.0 Design Patterns (Paperback)

Book Description
If you want to speed up the development of your .NET applications, you're ready for C# design patterns -- elegant, accepted and proven ways to tackle common programming problems. This practical guide offers you a clear introduction to the classic object-oriented design patterns, and explains how to use the latest features of C# 3.0 to code them.C# Design Patterns draws on new C# 3.0 language and .NET 3.5 framework features to implement the 23 foundational patterns known to working developers. You get plenty of case studies that reveal how each pattern is used in practice, and an insightful comparison of patterns and where they would be best used or combined. This well-organized and illustrated book includes:
An explanation of design patterns and why they're used, with tables and guidelines to help you choose one pattern over another
Illustrated coverage of each classic Creational, Structural, and Behavioral design pattern, including its representation in UML and the roles of its various players
C# 3.0 features introduced by example and summarized in sidebars for easy reference
Examples of each pattern at work in a real .NET 3.5 program available for download from O'Reilly and the author's companion web site
Quizzes and exercises to test your understanding of the material. With C# 3.0 Design Patterns, you learn to make code correct, extensible and efficient to save time up front and eliminate problems later. If your business relies on efficient application development and quality code, you need C# Design Patterns. About the AuthorJudith Bishop is a computer scientist, in Pretoria South Africa, specializing in the application of programming languages to distributed systems and web-based technologies. She is internationally known as an advocate of new technology. Her books on Java and C# have been published in six languages. She represents South Africa on IFIP TC2 on software and is a chair or member of numerous international conference committees and editorial boards.

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